My Aaron Rodgers Blog

The Green Bay Packers took second place in the NFC North division last season with an 11-5 record. That mark was good enough to land one of the NFC Wild Card spots. But the Packers weren't able to do any damage in the playoffs. The defense was completely embarrassed, giving up 51 points to Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals.

While Green Bay's defense was strong statistically, it had no answer for high-powered passing attacks. Warner, Brett Favre and Ben Roethlisberger all had big games against the Packers.

With Favre likely to return this season, the Packers will have to find a way to solve their pass coverage issues if they are going to best the Minnesota Vikings for an NFC North title.

Offense: Led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Packers have the potential to boast the most explosive offense in the NFL. Even with poor play on the offensive line, Green Bay still ranked No. 3 in the league in scoring offense last season (28.8 points per game). In fact, Rodgers still blasted the opposition for 4,434 passing yards and 30 touchdowns despite running for his life nearly every game. He was sacked a ridiculous 50 times.

The line should be better this season if tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher can stay healthy. The Packers also drafted Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year Bryan Bulaga to give them additional depth. Bulaga could end up being a steal at pick No. 23.

Running back Ryan Grant, who has rushed for more than 1,200 yards each of the last two seasons, will also benefit from a healthier line.

Greg Jennings and Donald Driver form one of the better wide receiver duos in the entire NFL. These two combined for 2,174 yards and 10 scores on 138 grabs last season.

Defense: The first season in Dom Capers' new 3-4 proved to be a success. The Packers finished No. 2 in the NFL in total defense and led the entire league in takeaways. Green Bay was especially strong against the run, boasting the NFL's best run defense.

While the stat sheet says Green Bay finished No. 5 in the league against the pass, the team knows it still has some work to do in that area. The organization is hopeful that having Al Harris, Will Blackmon and Pat Lee back will go a long way toward shoring things up in pass coverage. These boys will certainly have to be up to the task as it is unlikely that Nick Collins and Charles Woodson will be able to dominate the way they did last year. Plus, the Packers still need to do something about their pass rush.

They said goodbye to Aaron Kampman because he wasn't a good fit in the 3-4. Now, Clay Matthews is the only player on the roster who had any success as a pass rusher last season.

Prediction: 2nd NFC North - Green Bay has enough talent to win the North, but I believe Minnesota is still the best team in the division if Favre comes back healthy. I don't even think a healthy line will be enough to keep Jared Allen from living in the Green Bay backfield.

Beat the NFL odds with the help of Jimmy Boyd's award-winning NFL picks this season!

If you want winning NFL picks to beat the NFL odds this fall, then get signed up for one of the premium packages on my site.